


Escape Plans

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Desert Island, M/M, Prompt Fill, and mostly ignore it except in general tone, bingo prompt, in which i take the basic concept
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:22:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23880754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: Sonny and Rafael and the age-old wish to run away.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 57
Collections: April 2020 Barisi Bingo





	Escape Plans

"Run away with me," Sonny says with a groan as he flops flat on Rafael's office couch and presses his hands against his eyes. "Let's set your office on fire and get new identities and start over somewhere doing something that isn't this."

"Congratulations, you're fully a lawyer now," Rafael replies as he flips his pen onto his desk and rubs his own eyes. It's coming up on one in the morning. They have court tomorrow. The case has gone from solid to some sort of Newtonian goo, and it's very possible that even Sonny's absolutely unshakeable testimony likely won't save them. 

"Let's buy a lighthouse," Sonny says. "We'll wear big sweaters and eat lots of stews. Those things are mostly automatic these days. We won't even have to do much."

Rafael laughs and stands up. He stretches and winces when his back pops. "Come on, Detective," he says as he walks over to Sonny and holds out a hand. "Let's just go home for now."

Sonny drops his hands from his eyes and gives Rafael a smile so soft, Rafael wants to curl up next to him on the couch and simply stay there. "That's an excellent idea." He takes Rafael's hand and lets himself be pulled to his feet. He presses a kiss to Rafael's forehead and hugs him tight. "I'll do my best tomorrow," he says. 

"That's all I need," Rafael replies. 

*

Rafael doesn't quite know what to do as he watches the jury watch Sonny get cross-examined and sees them decide he's absolutely trustworthy and that defense counsel--Bryant Mulligan--is trying too hard to make him seem otherwise. 

"Tell us, Detective, have you ever been investigated for undue force?"

"Yes," Sonny says and looks directly at the jury. "Twice when I was a patrol officer," he adds without prompting. 

Rafael watches some of the puff go out of Mulligan's chest. He'd clearly thought he'd have to pull the story out of Sonny one tense question at a time. 

"The first time, I used a takedown maneuver that had recently been removed from approved use," Sonny continues, still fully facing the jury. "My commanding officer was supposed to have told us that it was off the table, but he hadn't. He ended up getting disciplined instead of me. Which was technically correct, but I didn't like the idea that I was off the hook when I could have really hurt someone."

"Thank you, Detective," Mulligan says, the sharp edge in his tone making a couple of jurors startle. 

"Redirect, your honor," Rafael says. He stands when the judge nods. "Detective, what was the second incident you were investigated for?"

"I was accused of shoving a man through a window."

"And the results of that investigation?"

"Based on security cam footage, it was proven I had been attempting to subdue the person who actually shoved him through the window, so I was cleared of wrongdoing, but I can see how the guy made an honest mistake."

"Thank you." Rafael glances at the jury as he sits down. A few of them are nodding, and all of them clearly believe everything Sonny's said. 

They may save this case yet. 

*

The jury is out for three days, and when they come back, they find the defendant guilty on the lesser of the charges. Rafael keeps his face impassive as the courtroom empties out. He hears Sonny come up behind him, but he doesn't look up right away. If he looks at Sonny, his poker face will break, and he doesn't want to give himself away with Mulligan still at the other table. 

Soon, everyone else is gone, and when Rafael looks up, Sonny's face is full of understanding and sympathy. "Not quite a loss," Sonny says. "But not quite a win."

"That sums it up nicely," Rafael agrees. He sighs heavily and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them, there's a gift bag on the table. He glances from it to Sonny, whose sympathetic look has switched to a quiet excitement. "What's in the bag?" 

"A surprise," Sonny says. He pokes the bag with a finger. "Well, step one of a surprise, anyway."

"And how many steps are there?" Rafael asks as he pulls the bag towards him and pulls out the tissue paper covering the gift. 

"Just two," Sonny says. "Well, three, technically."

"I could do without a technicality to worry about," Rafael says as his hand closes around something soft and textured. It's a sweater, he discovers when he pulls it from the bag. Cream-colored with fisherman cables. He runs a hand over it, tracing the shape of a cable, then looks up at Sonny, the question clear on his face.

"Part one is a nice, thick sweater," Sonny says, touching the sweater himself. "Part two--technically--is making sure I have one of my own. Which I've done. Part three is telling you I snuck behind your back and got us both the next few days off to go run away to a lighthouse."

Rafael stares at Sonny as he puts together what Sonny's telling him and the conversation they'd had a few days ago in his office. "You're joking."

"Nope. I've got the car outside with our stuff and enough groceries that we'll have no reason to see another person for the whole thing. The light's fully automatic, so we don't even have to worry about anyone checking on it. I'm gonna make the biggest pot of stew you've ever seen, and we're gonna do nothing but sit and enjoy some silence."

Rafael stares at Sonny in amazement. "I can't believe you did this."

"We need a break," Sonny says with a shrug. "I felt this one like a punch to the gut, and I know you did, too. Let's go pretend we're running away."

Rafael folds the sweater and puts it back in the bag, then reaches for Sonny and kisses him. "I would actually run away with you," he says. "Just so we're clear on that."

Sonny beams and brushes their noses together. "Good," he says. "We'll call this a practice run."

"If it doesn't work out, we can try a desert island next," Rafael says. He chuckles when Sonny laughs. 

"It's a plan," Sonny replies, and they walk out of the courthouse side-by-side. The case wasn't a win, but it wasn't a loss, but Rafael is certain he'll always win with Sonny.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I love lighthouses, and sometimes you can stay in them. And it gets you all alone with someone, so it's like a desert island. Except there's sweaters and stew.


End file.
